Raju's passion for photography

HRD Minister Raju is expected to take hundreds of photographs on an official trip to London

When he is not busy, human resource development minister M.M. Pallam Raju pursues his passion for photography. An ardent photographer, he was recently spotted toting a camera around his neck at the Congress party's Chintan Shivir in Jaipur. Close aides say the Raju makes it a point to carry his camera when he is travelling. "The minister is now off to London on an official trip. He'll bring back hundreds of photographs from there for sure," said an official.

BJP full of problems

The Bharatiya Janata Party might have overcome internal friction and appointed Rajnath Singh as president but there are other problems to deal with.

There have been contradictory voices over the party's national executive.

Soon after taking over as BJP chief, Singh had said that it would be held in February, before the Budget session of Parliament. But on Friday, party spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said it would be held after the Budget session. Then, the meet had been planned in Maharashtra, the home state of Nitin Gadkari. But with him no longer party president, doubts have cropped up over the venue.

No entry

The two Pakistani diplomats denied permission to visit Jaipur had nothing to do with the Jaipur Literary Festival. In fact, diplomats have been denied permission to visit Gurgaon.

South Block insiders say this was done based on reciprocity as Indian diplomats have been denied permission to visit Rawalpindi or the hill station of Murree. In this case, one of the diplomats was believed to be an intelligence operative.

Excited Rudy

Bharatiya Janata Party's Rajiv Pratap Rudy briefed the media after a long hiatus on Friday.

His excitement at being back was evident. He held forth on a variety of issues - David Coleman Headley's sentencing to the Jaipur Literary Festival. With Rudy at his articulate best the briefing, which was expected to last a mere 15 minutes, lasted over an hour.

Saraswat and Pillai have been selected for the Padma Bhushan while Chander will get the Padma Shri. Saraswat had courted controversy recently over the adverse remarks on the DRDO finances and had earlier received the Padma Shri.